Tribulation of Myriad Races

The iron devourer territory was located in the south of the Upper Ream.

In truth, the Divine Fire Mountain was also located in the south. The Heavenly Hole Range, where South Suppression Marquis was hiding at, was also located somewhere in this region.

In fact, the southern region of the Upper Realm was a rather complicated area. The iron devourers, a race friendly to humans, were based there. Several human Daofuses were hidden there. The human survivors were also relatively active in the south.

The iron devourer race could also be considered a powerful race. Their dao center was not a city. Rather, it was a large mountain range known as the Bamboo Mountain. The south was a mountainous region. The iron devourers might not have a large number, but they lived a free and unfettered life in their mountain range.

***

In the Upper Realm, a dao center was generally a place of habitation backed by a Daofuse.

There, the Daofuses would spread their powers of laws in the air to make it clear that the territories belonged to them. Outsiders could not intrude upon these locations without permission or they would be viewed as enemies. That was especially true for Daofuses.

At the moment, Su Yu’s group was moving rapidly to the south from the Chaos Mountain. They encountered other dao centers on the way, but Su Yu took a detour around all of them. As the owner of a Heaven Gate, this was an easy task for Su Yu. He could easily see any hidden Daofuse from afar.

The myriad races were very active due to the recent attack against the dragons, but Su Yu could still easily avoid them if he wanted to. An accidental encounter would not happen.

The Bamboo Mountain was a massive mountain range. As its name implied, this was a mountain range filled with bamboo. The source qi on the mountain range was also thick. Even from afar, one could see numerous iron devourers moving about in the mountain range.

With one look at the mountain range from afar, September started salivating. He said, “There are so many bamboos here. They look chewy!”

He felt like eating something.

Su Yu was left quite speechless. What was this preference? Were bamboos so delicious? Wouldn’t meat be better? This guy had eaten even dragon flesh before. Why were some bamboos making him salivate?

Su Yu ignored September. After looking around with his Heaven Gate, he said, “All your Daofuses are gathered deep in the Bamboo Mountain. Are they gathered as a precaution against any surprise attack?”

In the past, the Daofuses would be scattered. Clearly, the recent incident had alarmed the iron devourers as well.

Suddenly, Su Yu raised his brow. Not three. There were four Daofuses among the iron devourers.

“Hmm?”

He narrowed his eyes and said, “There is an unknown Daofuse. Is that March or a new Daofuse?”

But upon focusing, he noted that something was off. That did not seem to be the case. He did not sense any heavenly king among the four. Wasn’t Great Bamboo Marquis someone at the level of a heavenly king?

So there were four Daofuses there, even when excluding Great Bamboo Marquis? Had the iron devourers produced two new Daofuses?

With some doubt, Su Yu continued looking around. Then, he said, “There seem to be scouts hiding around the iron devourers.”

Lan Tian grinned and said, “Yes. I noticed them as well. The divines, devils, and immortals have their scouts there. But they are still staying outside the mountain. They are probably here to monitor the iron devourers.”

That was not surprising. How could a powerful race like this remain unsupervised?

Su Yu rubbed his chin. Suddenly, he laughed and said, “Since there are scouts around here, we need to avoid kicking up a fuss. I don’t want to provoke an intense reaction from the iron devourers by intruding forcefully. You’ll go, September.”

“Me?” September asked with his usual innocent expression, “Alone?”

Su Yu thought about it before smiling, “No. I’ll go with you.”

At that, he transformed into an iron devourer.

Then, his Mark of Civilization shook, releasing a unique fluctuation of the iron devourer race. His body shook as he started circulating the 72-Forged Iron Devourer. It had been a while since Su Yu last disguised himself as someone else. But that did not mean that he had lost the ability to do so.

There was a fake dao of the iron devourer race in the Book of Time. Su Yu himself knew the 72-Forged Iron Devourer as well. Nowadays, he no longer needed to utilize blood essence to utilize the daos in the Book of Time. With his increased control over the book, he could slightly utilize the daos in the book even without blood essence.

Two iron devourers stood side by side.

September stared at Su Yu, and Su Yu stared at September. The rest hurriedly looked away. For some reason, they found that a comedic sight. They had to stop themselves from laughing at the sight of that.

September gapsed in admiration, “What an amazing disguise.”

Even an actual iron devourer like him couldn’t see through this disguise.

September asked, “Emperor Yu, why don’t you disguise yourself as October?”

“…”

Was this guy trying to be his daddy?

Su Yu cursed inwardly. Why was this guy saying something like that with such an innocent and fluffy face?

“No. I’m August.”

He would be the daddy instead.

With the same innocent expression, September said, “No, that won’t work. My old man is over six thousand years old. He was also around during the last epoch when the Upper Realm Daofuses descended.”

Left somewhat speechless, Su Yu compromised, “In that case, I’ll pretend to be a regular Eternal of your race. I’ll be your guard called Big Bamboo.”

“…”

September felt like laughing, but he resisted and nodded with the same innocent expression, “Sure, Big Bamboo.”

He seemed to have adapted to this name quite quickly. The two wasted no time and set off immediately.

***

As soon as they revealed themselves, the nearby scouts noticed them. However, the scouts did not react. All iron devourers looked the same to them. And it wasn’t unusual for some iron devourers to enter and leave the mountain range.

They were only here to monitor the overall movement of the iron devourer race. It wasn’t like they could keep an eye on the true experts of the iron devourer race.

***

Inside the bamboo forest.

The moment Su Yu and September stepped into the mountain range, they felt the ambient powers of laws in the air.

The two nodded at each other. It was likely that the Daofuses here had already discovered them. This wasn’t surprising. September had entered without concealing his aura. That way, the iron devourers wouldn’t react too intensely upon noticing the sudden appearance of an expert among them.

***

At the same time.

Deep inside the bamboo forest was a dark green palace made of bamboo sticks. Inside, three iron devourer Daofuses were conversing with a humanoid Daofuse. Just then, one of the iron devourer Daofuse stopped eating and glanced outside with confusion.

Was he mistaken?

Nope.

Why did a Daofuse appear among his race out of nowhere? That was a Daofuse, right? He blinked and sent his dao power outside in confusion. Was that really a member of their race? Was that a spy? That wasn’t a familiar aura.

Sensing the fluctuations of his dao power, the two iron devourers and the humanoid being in the hall looked at him.

“What is it, May?”

April asked. Since this was May’s dao center, he did not sense anything unusual.

After giving his bamboo a bite, May said, “Nothing. Continue your discussion. This is boring for me so I won’t be paying attention.”

April said nothing else.

They resumed their conversation.

***

At the outer range of the bamboo forest.

September was surrounded by a group of iron devourers. A plump iron devourer rolled out and sniffed him before asking curiously, “Lord, we never saw you before. Why is that?”

Su Yu was unsure how these iron devourers could distinguish one from the other. He could only conclude that just as humans could differentiate each human from the other, the iron devourers could do the same among themselves.

But when looking at those from the other races, they could only rely on unique characteristics or auras of the different individuals.

“I just returned.”

“Oh.”

The plump iron devourer rolled away again. At that moment, a thicker wave of power approached the two. Clearly, someone was investigating the two.

With his usual innocent smile, September bit down on his bamboo and said, “I’m one of you. Stop looking.”

Why were they looking at them like that? The power rippled slightly before turning into a miniature iron devourer. The iron devourer looked confused. This stranger…was really an iron devourer. This was no disguise. His dao seemed different, but his bloodline was legitimate.

“Who are you?” The miniature May asked. He wouldn’t be so confused if it was an unknown weak iron devourer.

But this was a Daofuse. What in the world was going on here?

September smiled and said, “Guess.”

He had learned this from Su Yu.

And for some reason, the confused May started guessing obediently, “Are you a bastard of Great Bamboo Marquis? A secret child?”

He gasped in shock and continued, “Did Great Bamboo Marquis really produce a bastard in the Dao Origin Land? And you’re already a Daofuse?”

That was quick!

This youngster did not feel that old. Thus, this was the only conclusion May could reach. Great Bamboo Marquis did not reside in their own territory. Rather, he stayed at the Dao Origin Land.

“Did Great Bamboo Marquis send you back because of the incident involving the dragons?”

September blanked out. What?

Was Great Bamboo Marquis really such a player? To the point that he had produced a secret child outside?

“Not telling you. Which month are you?”

September was too young to recognize this iron devourer.

“May.”

At that, September decided to not say too much. After all, May was the Daofuse unfriendly toward humanity. Instead, he asked, “Is Senior April around?”

“Yes.”

May looked at Su Yu and asked curiously, “And there’s a younger fellow here. Did Great Bamboo Marquis produce two babies? Or is this yours?”

September resisted the urge to laugh and said, “This is Big Bamboo. I can tell you more when we meet.”

Big Bamboo.

Upon hearing that name, May concluded that this iron devourer was also someone from Great Bamboo Marquis’ lineage. After all, he had a fitting name.

Was Great Bamboo Marquis trying to do something similar with his lineage? Great Bamboo, Big Bamboo, Middle Bamboo, Small Bamboo, Mini Bamboo, and so on?

“Now?” May hesitated slightly and said, “This is not a convenient time for a meeting.”

“Why?”

“An annoying human is here. He’s here asking for an alliance again. He’s so annoying. I wanted to ignore him, but April insisted on meeting him. Well, I have to listen since that’s my old man. But that guy is truly annoying.”